(SE) nights of reckless glory

// ships are launching from my chest
some have names but most do not //

While the rest of the world seems to figuratively burn, King’s End is soaked and working on taking care of the damage toward the edges, especially the Boondocks. But when it comes to the interior of the region, Mourn seems relatively unaffected if not for the damp dirt and puddles spanning around where flowers typically were blooming in full force. It’s a peaceful location, one that Sunjata’s chosen to harbor the shrine to Frey, a space where offerings were already given when people didn’t want to traverse all the way to the hills of the Barrows.

So, in an effort to try and be more social as of late (especially given the strange violet hue in the sky and the second moon), a letter is sent to Alys, asking if she’d be willing to meet him here to prepare the space for the Frey shrine. And upon hearing back, a date was set, and the Flood brings a small cart of items with his Pegasus shift to the location. Inside the wagon sits tools and bags of dirt mixed with fertilizer, and a large variety of flowers in colors that vividly distract from the typical pinks and yellows and whites of Mourn.

A jacket is shed and folded on the edge of the basket, leaving him in a sleeveless shirt, scars and tattoos on display (and the start of a tan blending into his already sunkissed skin), snorting a sigh at Petronella as she darts off into the flowers to take down a particularly large looking daisy in the distance. And he waits for his company to arrive.

the flood

// if you find one, please,
let me know what piece i've lost //

ALYS

And I know that this life isn’t safe

Not for the first time, Alys was struck by the beauty of King's End, and of Mourn in particular. It was quiet and peaceful along the fringes of the hills, and Alys marveled that, soon enough, her home would be very near here. No longer would she be contained to the vast, frigid tundra - a thought that sent a pang of regret through her, for she loved Halo dearly. In the end, though, it simply wasn't enough.

Sunjata's message had surprised the seer, but she'd been eager to join him, even if she felt like perhaps the least qualified person to attempt to prepare space for a shrine. She was certainly not one who held a great deal of divine favor, although perhaps that would change in the coming days, when she approached Frey for help with some armor. The thought made her nervous. She'd grown up feeling tainted and unloved by the gods, and therefore had held on to a great deal of distaste for them. That her feelings had shifted so completely... well, if left her quite unsure of what to do next.

The seer arrived promptly at the agreed-upon time, Sascha at her heels. The cub was growing, standing nearly to Alys's knee now. Alys wasn't prepared for it, the growing up, and she wondered often if that was how parents felt, watching their children age. She wore pants decorated with daggers - two at her hips, two strapped to her thighs, and even one tucked into a boot - and a light, airy shirt that would be comfortable in the Longheat sun. Her dark curls were piled into a bun atop her head, and she was remarkably devoid of the jewelry that she normally wore, trying to dress sensibly in these trying times.

She neared the meeting point and saw Sunjata waiting for her. Unbothered by the man's scars and tattoos, she merely smiled up at him in greeting. "Hello," she said warmly. "It is good to see you looking well."

But it’s wild and it’s free

// ships are launching from my chest
some have names but most do not //

The Flood had never once had to live the way an Abandoned might when it came to the gods – and perhaps that’s why he thinks little of inviting Alys here to help him construct this shrine. After all, Hotaru was favored by them and bore a hybrid status of Attuned and Abandoned, and he knows full well that out of the gods that might care? Frey was lower on that totem pole. Himself, though, devoted as such to Frey, perhaps it’s enough on the scales to tip it over favorably even with Alys’ help.

Or maybe it’ll look really nice when Alys goes to see Frey later. It’s hard to say.

Either way, the seer arrives promptly and Sunjata turns to her to offer her a smile and a small wave of greeting. “Thank you, Alys. And thank you for coming.” He steps back to reveal the wagon, complete with wood and stone and soil and flowers and flashes her a crooked smile. “I thought with all the terrible things going on, we might be able to plant something new and lively here, alongside the soon to be shrine.” A spot picked from how many times he’d flown overhead and seen it desolate and beautiful, surrounded by nothing but flowers and creatures that passed by, spotting a herd or so of unicorns on the even rarer occasions.

"I brought some stone and wood, I was thinking maybe an arch of sorts that one of the wisteria I brought might grow onto." A thoughtful look - though he'd never been much of a gardener, tips taken from Nate and Hotaru upon occasion. His steel gaze slips back toward her to see her thoughts on the matter. "I am open to opinions or advice, though." Unlike the last time they'd met, the anxious mask is gone, replaced by something half optimistic and hopeful, alongside something tired and weary.

the flood

// if you find one, please,
let me know what piece i've lost //

ALYS

And I know that this life isn’t safe

Alys peered around Sunjata to find the supplies he'd brought: wood and stone and soil and flowers, enough to build whatever features he desired for his shrine. Or would it be their shrine, all of them who lived in King's End? Or even those beyond the borders of the region, who might make the pilgrimage to make their offering to the herald?

Alys's preferred gardening included herbs and spices more so than flowers; she thought of the little greenhouse out behind Evie's - her - shop in Halo, which held a variety of healing aids and other such things that could be beneficial - or, sometimes, deadly, depending on how they were prepared. Wisteria, though, had not yet made her list. She knew that it was toxic when ingested, but as a decorative plant, it was really quite beautiful.

"An arch of wisteria sounds lovely," she said with a smile. She could tell that Sunjata was more at ease than the last time they'd met, even if the state of the world had left him weary. She didn't remember the last time she'd seen someone look well-rested and at peace, but perhaps bringing a little beauty into the world would be something pleasant to carry with them, even when everything else was given to madness. "Did you know that wisteria symbolizes love?" she asked, as Sascha began to stalk through some nearby flowers in search of a playmate. "Mostly romantic love, but some believe it has connections to self-love and healing as well."

But it’s wild and it’s free

// ships are launching from my chest
some have names but most do not //

It would indeed be a shrine for anyone to visit, should they venture out this far. There was another located in King’s End, a shrine specific to Vi and Safrin, though it’s a shrine Sunjata has sworn off ever since Safrin had attempted to murder him there. Still, it remains even despite his harsh opinions of it and the starry goddess, not wanting to take it away from those that do find comfort there.

As for the flowers and such, he flashes her an easier smile as she mentions that it sounded lovely. Now, the actual shrine itself wouldn’t be constructed yet, but the bases of it, a little hidden away spot of hedges, shrubs, and trees amongst the flowers, seemed like a perfect way to honor the more natural aspect of Frey. “I didn’t know that.” He rumbles thoughtfully, moving to collect the stone to start marking out the width of which he wanted this area to be, leaving some of the smaller markers for Alys to join him with for the space they will need to dig out. Now, as for Sascha as she stalks through the flowers, she’ll find a small sea panther waiting for the precise moment to launch herself out with a playful mewl, finding that playmate in an over eager kitten.

“I suppose it’s fitting then for Frey.” If nothing else, love and self healing had been the exact message his deity had been trying to teach him. But he does flash Alys a thoughtful look. “My mother had a rose garden... But my favorite flowers personally are hydrangeas.” Curious if she’d have any facts on that, he draws silent, knowing little of the flowers aside from the blue petals that reminded him of home.

the flood

// if you find one, please,
let me know what piece i've lost //

ALYS

And I know that this life isn’t safe

Sascha ambled through the grass, searching for, perhaps, a butterfly to chase, and was surprised and elated to find a small sea panther waiting to pounce on her. She made an excited grumbling noise of her own as Petronella bowled her over with a playful mewl, and then the ursur cub was off on a merry chase through the flowers.

Alys chuckled at the fierce (read: adorable) noises coming from the tall grasses, shaking her head at their companions' antics. Then she moved to join Sunjata, following his lead as they began to mark out space in the dirt. "Indeed," she agreed, if somewhat hesitantly, not particularly keen on considering the gods beings of love. Still, they had done much for the people she cared about, and she could be grateful to them, if nothing else.

"Sex Frey would probably like a rose garden," Alys mused as she worked. "They're supposed to be an aphrodisiac." Not that the seer would know from personal experience, but she had made a study of plant magic. They might not have magic as the Abandoned did, but there was something inherently... mystical in their effects on the human body. "Although some of it also depends on the color. Red roses for passion, yellow for friendship, and so on."

Of hydrangeas, she had to smile. "Hydrangeas are supposed to symbolize abundance," she continued, unaware or uncaring that she was monopolizing the conversation with talk of plants and their various meanings and uses. "Although I personally prefer to think of them as a flower of gratitude. They go hand in hand, you see."

But it’s wild and it’s free

// ships are launching from my chest
some have names but most do not //

Petronella has little qualms with chasing after the much larger Ursur, little mewls and tiny roars accompanying the trail left behind of moving flowers. Sunjata can’t help the hum of a soft laugh that leaves him in turn, returning to his task of marking out how far the intended garden would go.

At the mention of Frey potentially liking roses, it wrinkles Sunjata’s nose in a way that has a soft laugh bubbling from his throat as he returns to the cart to grab a couple of shovels, handing one to Alys. “Not exactly what I want to picture when it comes to my mother.” The wince is playful, though, even as the Flood moves on. “She grew white roses.” Not one of the colors listed, but he’s sure she’ll inform him. And it’s something he’s admittedly looking forward to, content to let her take over the entire conversation with flowers.

A low hum of thought slips from him as he starts to shovel out the relatively small border around the grasses. “Abundance and gratitude, huh? I suppose it makes sense.” He’s contemplative as he shovels the dirt into little piles.

the flood

// if you find one, please,
let me know what piece i've lost //

ALYS

And I know that this life isn’t safe

Alys blushed. She hadn't really thought about what she was saying as she talked about the flowers, but she supposed that thinking about mothers and sexuality in the same sentence was more than a little uncomfortable. "White roses are for purity and innocence, usually," she said, which seemed like perhaps it would be more comfortable for the Flood to consider.

With Sascha and Petronella in the background and good conversation in the fore, it made for quick work, and Alys grabbed her own shovel to begin to clear away some dirt. She hummed her agreement. "It's interesting," she said. "Flowers - and so many other things - have so many meanings that most people don't ever know about. And that's besides their various mundane uses." Meaning, of course, their properties of healing and poisoning and gods only knew what else. "It's a bit silly, when we have magic, but sometimes a plant's healing properties are just as efficient."

But it’s wild and it’s free

// ships are launching from my chest
some have names but most do not //

It’s a contemplative silence that overtakes him now, a nodding when the answer is given over what white roses stood for. “That makes more sense.” He admits. His mother had always been his favorite person – the only one to go out of her way to treat him on his birthdays before he reached Trial age, childish and playful in her silent rebellions against his father for her love of him and his sister.

That is, until his father used just how much she meant to him to try and get him to ruin the state of Korofi forever. It hadn’t worked, but it was still a regret he harbors, even if he knows deep down that she wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

The companions play while they mark the plots, digging up a solid little surface to start making their boundaries of plants, Alys finding it easy to move the dirt the short amount she needs to. Eventually they meet up in that little half circle. Sunjata returns to the cart to grab a few little sticks with colored flags on them to mark out where he intends to plant some of the trees and shrubs when he eventually gets them. “There was no magic in Korofi. No shifts or abilities or gods, for that matter. All we had were plants and technology to make things better.” Sunjata admits, looking up at Alys as he grabs a few boxes of the flowers to set out so she can start planting if she liked. He grabs a box of the stones for himself to start laying out the little décor in the grooves they’ve made. “I broke my leg when I was young. Took months to heal and for a while there I was on some pretty heavy painkillers. Kind of… Similar to Dreamdust, I suppose.” Sunjata pauses in his laying of the stones to snap his fingers, trying to get the name of the closest equivalent here.

the flood

// if you find one, please,
let me know what piece i've lost //

ALYS

And I know that this life isn’t safe

Oblivious to the exact thoughts in Sunjata's head, but knowing enough of his past to guess that speaking of his mother might have unearthed some tangled emotions, Alys continued her work, digging into the soil in the designated areas with a steady sort of perseverance. It was not an awkward silence in which they worked; in fact, Alys was quite comfortable. Between the knowledge that Sunjata was Ru's partner - and, therefore, considering him a friend on principle - and the fact that he'd allowed her to do a reading for him - and, seemingly, embraced it - well, suffice it to say that Alys was far happier to spend time with a new friend than she might have been back in Halo, where things were so... chaotic.

She'd still yet to tell her friends there that she would be moving, and it was starting to feel like a lie rather than a simple omission of the truth. It was just that there never seemed to be a right time, after the meteor crashed and the floodwaters rose. Still, she knew she couldn't put it off forever.

The seer shook off her momentary blues in favor of collecting some plants, then set them carefully in the places that had been marked, arranging them just so before she began to dig little holes for them. "It sounds like an interesting place," she said, though in truth, she wasn't sure how she'd have fared. No magic? No shifts? Even if Alys wasn't sure where she stood with Caido's gods, she couldn't help but admit that they were a big part of life here. What did people from Korofi believe in, if not in deities?

"Even here, there's always a possibility of being injured without a healer nearby. Plants can help stabliize people until they can get to a healer. Or, in the case of many injuries at once -" And she thought again of the meteor strike. "They can help tide people over until a healer can see to them." She paused, thinking. "Was it terribly strange, to go from a land without gods to serving one here?"

But it’s wild and it’s free

// ships are launching from my chest
some have names but most do not //

He works on the stones, setting them up in little patterns that Alys can start planting the flowers around – a variety of different colors than were already native to the hills of Mourn, listening easily to Alys as she speaks. “It was.” Sunjata agrees – even though it had been excruciatingly tough for him, it had been nowhere near how difficult it were for those not from his status. There were many things Sunjata hadn’t quite learned how to do, something that Caido had certainly helped teach him over his time here.

So he listens, laying down the stone work before joining her with planting more flowers, nodding over the comments of healing that she offers, a low rumbled sound leaving him. He’d been traditionally healed here, as well, given Nate’s doctor status and his distrust of magical healing. But there were times where Safrin hadn’t cared, had healed him anyway, or he’d been so broken and ruined beyond repair that magic was the only thing that could.

But then she asks if it was strange to go from no gods to being entirely devoted to one here, and Sunjata can’t help the huff of a laugh that leaves him, lips curling in a soft smile. “Yeah. It was very strange.” He can’t lie – the thought of it even now was still awkward and strange to think about how it came about. “I arrived just before the Blight happened and got worse, and at the time I was with Phoebe. It was before we got married and she got really sick and I didn’t know what to do but I knew she followed Frey?” He looks up to Alys for a moment, the amusement still bright on his face. “And so I went to the shrine in the Grounds and I asked for help and I felt like a fucking idiot talking to thin air after going twenty or so years without, and suddenly they were right there.”

the flood

// if you find one, please,
let me know what piece i've lost //

ALYS

And I know that this life isn’t safe

They worked together in tandem, with Alys setting out flowers and Sunjata setting out stones. When the seer was satisfied with how the plants were arranged, she started at one end of the flowerbed and began to dig holes, gently plant the flowers, and fill in the remainder of the holes with soil. It was a pleasant way to spend the day, she thought - strange, perhaps, in the troubled times in which they lived, but welcomed for just that reason.

She listened to his description of what it had been like to go from no gods to serving one, listened as he revealed more of his history. She rather approved that he was being so forthcoming about the things that had happened to him, the things he'd been through. Even if this wasn't a particularly traumatic memory (and, really, she had no way of knowing whether it was or wasn't), being willing to share bits and pieces of one's past was important in determining one's ability to move forward into the future.

So Alys nodded in agreement with the last part of his story, a rueful sort of smile appearing on her face. "When I was young, I was taught that, as an Abandoned, I was tainted and disliked by the gods," she said. "So, for a very long time, I decided that if they weren't going to like me, then I wasn't going to like them, either. It's really only been in the past year or so that I've realized that perhaps they aren't as rigid as I once thought, that maybe they would hold my magic against me less than some of the people I've met." She wrinkled her nose. "I still can't imagine talking to them, though. Like you said, talking with thin air... it sounds ridiculous, even for Caido."

But it’s wild and it’s free

// ships are launching from my chest
some have names but most do not //

When it isn’t a situation where he feels like he might be judged for his shitty upbringing, there’s a far greater chance of him explaining it in mere passing. Not that he expected Alys to say anything about it, according to Hotaru the seer was understanding and optimistic, and he had to agree after the short time of knowing her. But he’s still so conditioned to being taken advantage of by those that have learned about his past that it makes him defensive if it’s looked at amongst his other traumas.

So saying, Sunjata finishes the tiles, starting to help her with planting the plants, his steel gaze taking in the pattern she’d created and recreating it on his side as he listens. And there’s understanding there, a glimmer of it in his brightened steel as he glances back at her and offers a hum of agreement. “Even though I am Frey’s demigod, I still find myself rarely seeing them in comparison to every other demigod, it sounds like.” He starts to say, stumbling over his own inner admission, a clear note for her to realize that he is really trying to open up. “So I understand your wariness, especially after what you have faced.” He’d never been abandoned, but he has seen the distrust from others toward the race, the unfairness of it.

“If you were to speak with one, do you have one specific in mind?” He asks out of curiosity.

the flood

// if you find one, please,
let me know what piece i've lost //

ALYS

And I know that this life isn’t safe

Whatever reservations Sunjata might have had about sharing his past, Alys would have understood. After all, she didn't exactly go shouting her own from the rooftops, and it was significantly less traumatic than his. Not, of course, that it was a competition. Everyone processed their own traumas in their own ways. In other words, everyone was working through something. Still, she would press him no more than she had at his reading for information about his past, instead content to wait until he was ready to share - or not, as he preferred.

Sunjata finished the tiles and began to copy her flower placement on his side. Alys, for her part, just kept planting. There was something about having her fingers in the soil, placing the flowers just so, preparing them for a bright future, that calmed her and bolstered her against the exhaustion that no doubt plagued them all. It was nice to bright a little happiness into the world, especially one entrenched in such darkness.

"I'm planning to go see Frey with Tal," she said absently; then, quickly, her cheeks flushing pink, she added, "Nature Frey, I mean." She patted down soil around her flower, then swiped the back of her hand across her forehead, removing sweat but leaving dirt behind. "I wanted to ask for something defensive - armor, or something - just... just in case." Her mouth twisted into a frown, and she began to dig the next hole. "I'm reasonably good with a bow, and I'm learning to throw daggers with my magic, but if it was ever a question of close combat... I'd lose." She shrugged, matter-of-fact. After all, she was short, petite, and not particularly strong. "I'm trying to learn, but I'm afraid that it won't be quick enough."

But it’s wild and it’s free